this one. This article is worth writing because the biggest targets are newly graduated DCs who aren’t making much money to begin with. Generat-ing some additional income is entic-ing, especially if your practice is slow. My advice would be to steer clear of MLM companies and focus on your strengths and the values that made you decide to join the profession. UNNECESSARY PATIENT TREATMENT I have been in practice for 16 years. In that time I have seen the de-listing of chiropractic from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, massive changes in auto injury guidelines, and adjust-ments in various governing college rules. However, the biggest change has been the mainstream use of the Inter-net and the technology explosion that has given people greater access to in-formation. Back in the day, there were motor vehicle accident clinics that would seemingly prey on patient misfortunes. Patient A would go to a “multidiscipli-nary clinic” to be assessed for injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident. Then, the patient would see the chiro-practor for a while before being re-ferred to physiotherapy while at the same time having massage therapy treatment. Acupuncture would be added to the mix and concurrently they would be referred to see the clinic psychologist. In a couple of months they would see the resident occupa-tional therapist for a trial of care. This would be prescribed to every motor vehicle accident patient. I’m completely serious. How did clinic owners sleep at night? Taking advantage of patients’ circumstances is unacceptable. I am pleased that over the years the auto insurance legisla-tion has been re-tooled so that some of these opportunist clinics have met extinction as a result of the changes. Ask yourself: Am I benefiting the patient as much as they are benefiting me? Do you find that you are unnec-essarily asking the patient to come in more than they need to? It’s a deep and poignant question. For instance, in this information age, how do we (DCs, our patients, and the general public) make sense of every patient entering John/Jane Doe chiropractic practice who are prescribed the exact same treatment? Does every patient that enters said clinic need to come in three times per week for one year? There comes a point where the ethics of the situation are called into ques-tion in the absence of supporting clinical relevance within the scope of the best available research. Translation: If you are doing this, knock it off because it gives chiroprac-tors a bad name. In business and in life, the tempta-tion to skirt around the rules to bene-fit oneself will be ever-present. We must keep in mind the oath we took to take care of our patients and protect them from exploitation. Call for many more adjusters not shown Serviced & Returned In Days Reasonable Rates Serving All of Canada We Buy Used Adjusters WorldWide Chiropractic Repairs Quality Repairs At Reasonable Rates Atlanta, Georgia USA www.ChiroRepairs.com/555 Email Us: [email protected] +1.770.899.7239 www.canadianchiropractor.ca CC_WorldwideChiro_Dec18_CSA.indd 1 ©/® by their respective owners December 2018 Canadian Chiropractor 17 2018-11-15 7:24 AM
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